Protesters from Australia land at Adani House to oppose coal project

In one of the firsts for an Indian corporate, Adani Group, which is trying to implement $11.5 billion coal mine project in Australia, saw the protest from Australia land at its doorsteps in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

A group of activists from Queensland, Australia, landed at the corporate headquarters of Adani Group in Ahmedabad to personally hand over an ‘open letter’ against the project to the office of Gautam Adani, chairman of the group.

“We have come in our individual capacity, but represent several groups opposing the project that will be a major disaster. We are not opposed to Adanis and investment if it comes in clean energy and not environmentally dangerous coal mining,” Geoff Cousins of the Australian Conservation Foundation, who handed over the letter, told mediapersons outside the gate of Adani House.

“In the past, we successfully stalled a coalmine project bigger than Adanis,” Cousins, former advisor to the Australian prime minister, said. The delegation was here to urge Adanis not to proceed with the development of Carmichael coal project in the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland.

“We have handed over the letter and hope they see our point,” Cousins said.
The project involves production of 60 million tonne per annum coal, a 388 km-long rail line and construction of a new coal export terminal at the Abbot Point coal port. Though the Australian authorities, including the Australian and Queensland government, have given the project a green signal, the project has been in controversy from the outset.

“Back in Australia, government licence is not sufficient. You also need a social licence by way of public support, which they will never get,” Cousins added.

The key concerns from local aboriginal landowners and environmentalists include impact of the project on groundwater and climate due to burning of coal from the mine and on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The project would damage the fragile Reef, he added.